


we are pretty lucky

by Raconteur11037



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bittersweet, Everybody Lives, Family Bonding, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of AIDS jokes, Mentions of HIV/AIDS, Mentions of homophobia, Not a lot of angst but, children are awful, its a bit, most of them anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 13:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raconteur11037/pseuds/Raconteur11037
Summary: Jason gets suspended for getting into a fight with a classmate; Whizzer has to pick him up. They have an unexpected heart-to-heart.Jason loves his dads, and they love Jason.





	we are pretty lucky

Whizzer was more than a little disgruntled upon being startled awake by music playing in the empty apartment. Having no appointments scheduled for the day, he had taken the opportunity to lounge around the apartment and watch trashy TV shows aimed at middle-aged women without being judged by his family, but apparently even he had fallen asleep on the couch with the TV still on.

Buy where was that music coming from? There was nobody home, after all. With a jolt of realization, Whizzer remembered that not only was the music coming from his phone, but it was the custom ringtone he had set for Marvin- who was at work. Marvin never called when he was at work. Marvin almost never called, period. So Whizzer was more than a little nervous as he swiped the phone from the coffee table and picked up just before the song ended.

"Oh, Whiz, thank God- I was starting to think you wouldn't pick up. Can you do something for me?" If Whizzer was nervous, Marvin was terrified, as his manner of speaking as soon as Whizzer picked up made very clear.

"Woah... sure, 'f course, Marv, what's up? You okay?"

"Y-yeah, sorry. Uh, could you pick Jason up from school?" Christ, how long had Whizzer been napping? Holding the phone away from his ear, he saw that the clock only read 1:00PM. Schools these days didn't let out that early, did they?

"Isn't it a little early? And- doesn't he take the school bus?" Whizzer had to stifle a yawn mid-sentence, still too groggy to finish putting the pieces together.

"That's the thing. Would you believe it, they called and told me he got in a fight with a classmate! Our Jason! I almost didn't believe 'em- but, anyway, you're the only one who's home right now and I really need you to go get him. Please?"

Who knew the kid had it in him? The feeling in Whizzer's gut was almost akin to pride. "Gee, wonder where he picked up that from. But sure, yeah, of course, Marv, I'll go pick up our little devil-child." Our, Whizzer thought. Marvin had probably said it without thinking; he's probably said the same thing to Trina a hundred times, but it was Whizzer. It made him feel kinda warm inside (and not in the way he was used to), and he briefly thought that the Whizzer of two years ago would have gagged at the domesticity of the entire exchange. But he wouldn't dwell on that now.

As soon as he spoke, Whizzer could hear the comically loud sigh of relief made by his boyfriend through the phone. "Thank you, Whizzer, you're a lifesaver. I'll text you the address, it's not too far. And, hey-" followed by a hum of acknowledgement from the younger "-don't be too harsh on the kid when you scold him. He's never done anything like this before, I'm sure he doesn't feel great about it either." That's right, fighting the unbearable little snots Jason called schoolmates was a bad thing. Jason was in trouble. Whoops.

"Yeah, I'll try not to yell at 'im too much. No promises though." Whizzer couldn't tell if Marvin heard his snickering through the phone, but if he did, he didn't comment on it.

"Thanks again. I really gotta get back to work now-" Marvin's voice began to trail off before he quickly added in a "Love you," before hanging up.

"Love you too, Marv," Whizzer started to reply, though he wasn't sure how much he actually got in.

Shutting off the TV just as he heard the text alert from Marvin, Whizzer laboriously pulled himself off the couch and made himself look at least presentable before slipping out the door.

* * *

It took Whizzer about 15 minutes to get to Jason's middle school, and he hoped the kid wouldn't be too mad for making him wait. The school was terribly run-down, and upon crossing the threshold Whizzer immediately remembered why he hated school as a boy. He would have have no idea where to look if the main office weren't adjacent to the entrance with walls that were 80% window. He saw Jason sitting in a chair against the opposite wall, looking even more miserable than he usually did.

Though he looked terribly out of place (a stylish, flamboyant man in his early thirties who clearly wasn't a teacher, waltzing into the office of a middle school like he owned the place), Whizzer never let that bother him, the same way he always did.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up Jason Feldman? I'm- his dad." He couldn't help but smile as he said that last word. The tiny lady behind the secretary's desk gave him a quizzical look that he had seen several times before. It was the look of 'how many parents does this kid have, anyway,' that he had gotten from pretty much every other adult who knew Jason in passing.

Upon hearing a familiar voice, a tiny head of brown curls that had previously been pointed directly towards the floor shot up, already beaming despite the abnormal red marks blooming on one cheek. "Whizzer!" Jason exclaimed as he shot out of his seat, dropping a baggie full of water that presumably once held ice for his cheek.

"Hey, Jason! Your dad sent me to pick you up. You okay?" He gestured to the boy's red cheek with concern, but received a solid nod in reply. He can't be feeling too bad then, Whizzer thought.

The secretary, who had sat behind her desk with a scowl as she waited for the pair to be quiet, finally cleared her throat. "May I remind you that Jason has received a two-day suspension for brutally attacking another student," she pointedly glared down her glasses at Jason, who shrunk under her gaze. " _ **Unprovoked**_. Though we leave it up to the parents to reprimand their children accordingly."

" **Unprovoked?** " Jason yelped, as if a fire had been lit in (or under) him. "He was being a dick!" Whizzer looked away innocently upon hearing tbe boy swear, as if to say 'I didn't teach him that.' "He was making fun of me because I have two dads! He- he keeps saying that it's gross, and he was saying I'm gay just cause my dad's gay," Okay, that one stung a little bit. Whoever Jason hit, the kid sounded like an insufferable bastard to Whizzer, who frankly thought he probably deserved it.

"And- and then he started making jokes about AIDS and saying that you guys were gonna die- I- I just got so mad- I wanted to defend you guys, and I- I just hit him! Please don't be mad, Whizzer!" And when Jason looked at him, he saw the tears welling up in those puppy-dog eyes, and Whizzer had never felt a stronger desire to hurt a child.

In the tense second that followed, the secretary just cleared her throat and scowled harder, if possible, and Whizzer almost laughed at how ruthless the old bird was. "Harmless schoolyard jokes are not an excuse for physical assault! Nothing will change the fact that you were the one who landed the first blow, and you will be held responsible for that. **End of discussion.** " Jason sniffled loudly at that, but simply bowed his head in defeat. And now Whizzer could add an old lady to the list of people he wanted to hurt.

Opening his mouth for what felt like the first time in hours, Whizzer had to swallow a mixture of laughter and rage when he realized that the lady behind the desk was actually kind of scary, and he really didn't feel like getting on her bad side right now. Instead, he started, "Jason, I'm not mad at you- just disappointed," cringing at how well he channeled his own father. He saw the kid's face fall even further, but he gave him a conspiratorial wink on the side facing away from the desk lady, which Jason seemed to pick up on.

"Now, I don't want to embarrass you in front of-" he paused, craning his neck to read the name tag sitting on the desk. " _Ms. Goldberg,_ here, but just know that when we get home, you and I are gonna have some choice words about your behaviour today. Now let's get you out of here." He gave him a pat on the back and began to lead the boy towards the door, before turning over one shoulder to look at the secretary, who almost seemed pleased by Whizzer's scolding of his son, though her expression was virtually unchanged.

" _Have a good afternoon_ , Ms. Goldberg." Even through his patented Whizzer Brown Charm, he made sure to let as much spite bleed into his words as possible, which made him grin at the old woman's reaction.

* * *

As soon as the heavy double-doors of the school had closed behind them, Whizzer took one look at Jason and snickered, which quickly grew into giggles, until he was doubled over in laughter. Jason stared for a second in confusion, before he started laughing too, and they stood there for what may have been several minutes cracking up at the scene that had just gone down.

"Can you believe that old windbag? ' _Harmless schoolyard jokes are no excuse for physical assault!'_ What a stone-cold bitch!" Whizzer gasped in between laughs, putting on his best mocking falsetto while repeating back the secretary's earlier words.

"' _Jason, I'm not mad, just disappointed_ ,' you sounded just like my dad! I can't believe I fell for that!"

"You should have seen the look on your face! I swear to Christ in heaven, you better stop me if I ever actually turn into your father. One Marvin is more than enough for this family." Finally coming down from his hysterics, Whizzer placed a hand on Jason's shoulder in an attempt to steady them both.

"We're Jewish."

"I'm _half_ Jewish."

Jason paused for a moment, as if trying to think of a rebuttal, before shrugging and replying with "Fair enough," which prompted more laughter from Whizzer.

Heaving a final sigh and wiping a few stray, giddy tears from his eyes, Whizzer finally composed himself before taking a knee to look his unofficial stepson in the eye. He hadn't noticed how much taller Jason had gotten recently- soon he could face him standing up straight. His features morphed into something softer and more sincere, and when he spoke, his voice was quiet and gentle. " _Thank you,_ Jason. Thank you for- defending me and your dad. For showing that little shit who's boss. You can't let guys like that win. If you don't tell them they're wrong, they'll keep saying whatever they feel like, keep on spreading their own hate and bigotry and hurting other people with it. It's not easy, but somebody's gotta stand up to the bad guys." It simultaneously broke Whizzer's heart and made him swell with joy the way Jason looked at him in that moment- his big round eyes still shiny with tears, cheeks red from laughter (as well as being punched), staring at Whizzer with an expression so full of love and awe and just a sliver of fear, not for him, but for the picture his words painted.

Without thinking, Whizzer pulled his son _(how did he deserve to call this kid his son?)_ into his chest in a tight hug. "I just wish people like him didn't exist. All you're doing is loving each other. You're not hurting anyone. Why does it matter to him if you're both boys? I would consider myself lucky to find a girl- _or a boy_ \- who loves me half as much as you love my dad, or as much as he loves you. It's kinda gross, really- n-not because you're gay, y'know, just because you're my dads." Whizzer definitely wasn't tearing up now, and no one can say he was. "How do you do it, Whizzer? How can you be so proud and open about who you are when the whole world is telling you you're wrong? I could never be that strong."

"I think the same thing sometimes, buddy. It's not always easy, despite how I make it look. There are days when I just want to crawl back into the closet and die there, sad and alone. But then I think of how much I love you and your dad, so much that I want to tell the whole world, just stand on top of a skyscraper and hold his hand up and just yell out ' **this is my boyfriend and I love him more than anything else in the world',** and not give a damn who hears. And I think about how much it hurt to lie and hide who I am, and how I never want to do that to myself again. Just think of what all that pressure did to your father." They both suppress a shudder at the memory of Marvin two years earlier, a self-absorbed, volatile, terrified shell of a man attempting to bury his true self under a perfect persona, even if it killed him. Jason couldn't imagine Whizzer turning out like that.

Finally, Whizzer pulled back, though he kept both arms around Jason's small frame, looking at him with a sad smile, not even bothering to hide the tears still welling up in his eyes. "And I think about people like you- those rare good Samaritans who are willing to fight the good fight to protect other people, not just themselves. So don't you stop beating up homophobes, kid. And lemme teach you a thing or two about karate for next time."

This time, Jason was the one to throw his arms around Whizzer's neck, almost throwing him headfirst into the pavement. "Thanks, Whizzer." He muttered something after that, that Whizzer didn't have to hear twice to know was the boy's way of saying 'I love you'.

"I love you too, Jason." Whizzer realized he had never said those words before, but the moment they formed on his tongue, he knew they felt **_right_**.

After a long moment, they finally pulled apart, and Whizzer exaggerated a groan as he stood up. " _God_ , I'm gettin' old. You're gonna have to start growing faster, I dunno how much longer I'll be able to do that." The remark earned him a playful swing and a chuckled "you're already old," from Jason, which Whizzer figures he should have seen coming.

As they started the walk back to their apartment, Jason stopped only a few feet away from the school, and continued, "I promise I didn't tell anybody you had AIDS. He's just the type of guy who finds people's suffering funny, I guess."

There it was. That comment had stuck with Whizzer since Jason first mentioned it, but he knew how the boy hated talking about his illness. "First of all," he was going for comforting, but his tone may have come off more condescending. "I don't have AIDS. I have HIV, which can turn into AIDS, but that probably won't be for a long time. And doctors like Charlotte are working real hard all the time to make life better and longer for people like me. And there's nothing wrong with talking about it. It doesn't make me dirty, it's just like the flu, or any other virus. And your dad is still perfectly healthy. We're both gonna be just fine, y'hear me?"

"You promise?" His voice sounded scared. A part of Whizzer, a _big_ part, was scared too, but he needed to do anything he could to make Jason feel safe. But the truth was that nothing about this was safe, and as much as he wanted to, he could never truly promise Jason that everything would be alright. "Yeah, promise. And if he tells you either of us are gonna die, just tell him that I don't plan on going anywhere for a long, long time. I've got too much to live for here." He grinned, pulling the boy in for a sort of awkward side-hug.

"Now, do you wanna head straight home, or do you wanna go celebrate your first glorious battle with some ice cream?"

* * *

 

Having only receiving a brief text from Whizzer confirming that Jason was home safe, Marvin was still wound tight when he burst through the door of the apartment several hours later. Whizzer greeted him with their usual faire, meeting his lover at the door with a peck on the lips and leading him to the couch by his tie. Though Marvin hardly complained, he stopped things from going any further by sharply asking, "How's Jason?"

As adorable as Marvin's confused face was upon seeong Whizzer grin in response to his question, he wasted no time in explaining.

"Huh," was the first thing he said, as if he couldn't believe what he had heard. "He did that... for us? To- defend our honour?" Marvin cursed himself for spending the day thinking that Jason had resorted to fisticuffs over something trivial, or he had pent-up teenage angst, or even that he had somehow failed as a father. But his scrappy, 14-year-old son had started a fist fight to protect his father and his father's lover's right to love one another.

"We did a good job with that one." Marvin sighed, leaning against his boyfriend and clinging to his arm and shoulder.

"We?"

"Yes, _we_. All six of us, we're all a part of him. You're just as much his father as I am." The older said reassuringly, pressing chaste kisses to the younger's cheek and lips.

Whizzer hummed. "He's pretty damn lucky to have six parents who love him so much. Some people don't even have two." There was an edge of bitterness in Whizzer's words, but most of it was genuine awe.

"Maybe we're the ones who are lucky to have helped raise such a wonderful kid."

Whizzer hummed again, softer, resting his head against Marvin's. "Maybe so."

They sat like that for a while, before Marvin stood with a kiss, explaining "I think I should probably go talk to our little black belt," before turning down the short hallway that housed the two bedrooms.

Whizzer definitely wasn't eavesdropping, but he managed to hear snippets of conversation.

"You really do take after me, huh?"

"You're not mad at me?"

"Thank you, son."

"You should see the other kid."

"Who exactly was this kid, anyway?"

"I'm proud of you."

"Everything will be alright."

"We love each other very much, and we both love you. That's not gonna change."

"I love you too, Dad."

Whizzer smiled, despite himself. He really was lucky to have found his family.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Falsttos fic and I wrote it in like an hour, so it's probably shit. But this idea has been rolling around in my head for a while, and I just had to write it.
> 
> I believe this basic idea came from falsettodheadcanons.tumblr.com, which is a great blog that you should all read.
> 
> Shout out to the people who catch my not-subtle but totally meaningless In Trousers reference, and the hints towards bisexual Jason, which you can pry from my cold gay hands.


End file.
